-
Garlic Ballads
- Narrated by: Robert Woo
- Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Release date: 04-16-13
- Language: English
- Publisher: Audible Studios
- Whispersync for Voice-ready
Regular price: $24.95
People who bought this also bought...
-
To Live
- A Novel
- By: Yu Hua, Michael Berry
- Narrated by: David Shih
- Length: 8 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 10
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 8
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 8
This searing novel, originally banned in China but later named one of that nation's most influential books, portrays one man's transformation from the spoiled son of a landlord to a kindhearted peasant. After squandering his family's fortune in gambling dens and brothels, the young, deeply penitent Fugui settles down to do the honest work of a farmer. Forced by the Nationalist Army to leave behind his family, he witnesses the horrors and privations of the Civil War, only to return years later to face a string of hardships brought on by the ravages of the Cultural Revolution.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Wow!
- By Phillip King on 05-30-18
-
A Tale for the Time Being
- By: Ruth Ozeki
- Narrated by: Ruth Ozeki
- Length: 14 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,848
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,687
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,679
In Tokyo, 16-year-old Nao has decided there's only one escape from her aching loneliness and her classmates' bullying. But before she ends it all, Nao first plans to document the life of her great grandmother, a Buddhist nun who's lived more than a century. A diary is Nao's only solace - and will touch lives in ways she can scarcely imagine. Across the Pacific, we meet Ruth, a novelist living on a remote island who discovers a collection of artifacts washed ashore in a Hello Kitty lunchbox - possibly debris from the devastating 2011 tsunami.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Engaging story beautifully read
- By Karen on 01-30-14
-
When We Were Orphans
- By: Kazuo Ishiguro
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 536
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 380
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 377
Christopher Banks, an English boy born in early-20th-century Shanghai, is orphaned at age nine when both his mother and father disappear under suspicious circumstances. He grows up to become a renowned detective, and more than 20 years later, returns to Shanghai to solve the mystery of the disappearances.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Just short of 5 stars
- By Everett Leiter on 05-26-06
-
The Visitant
- A Venetian Ghost Story
- By: Megan Chance
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 10 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 134
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 119
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 119
After she nearly ruins her family with a terrible misstep, Elena Spira is sent to Venice to escape disgrace and to atone by caring for the ailing Samuel Farber. But the crumbling and decaying Ca' Basilio palazzo, where Samuel is ensconced, holds tragic secrets, and little does Elena know how profoundly they will impact her.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great love story!
- By Mary Sensing on 09-22-16
-
The Unremembered Girl
- By: Eliza Maxwell
- Narrated by: Will Damron
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,186
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,041
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 1,036
In the deep woods of East Texas, Henry supports his family by selling bootleg liquor. It's all he can do to keep his compassionate but ailing mother and his stepfather - a fanatical grassroots minister with a bruising rhetoric - from ruin. But they have no idea they've become the obsession of the girl in the woods. Andoned and nearly feral, Eve has been watching them, seduced by the notion of family - something she's known only in the most brutal sense. Soon she can't resist the temptation to get close.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Meh
- By Simpsons on 11-14-17
-
The Red Hill
- Thomas Berrington, Volume 1
- By: David Penny
- Narrated by: Ian Russell
- Length: 11 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 70
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 59
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 60
In 1482 the Englishman Thomas Berrington is living in the last remnants of Moorish Spain. A physician, he is an unwilling friend to the most powerful man in the kingdom. When bodies start to turn up, each showing the marks of a savage attack, Thomas is asked to investigate.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Not my cup of tea!
- By Dany on 11-20-17
-
To Live
- A Novel
- By: Yu Hua, Michael Berry
- Narrated by: David Shih
- Length: 8 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 10
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 8
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 8
This searing novel, originally banned in China but later named one of that nation's most influential books, portrays one man's transformation from the spoiled son of a landlord to a kindhearted peasant. After squandering his family's fortune in gambling dens and brothels, the young, deeply penitent Fugui settles down to do the honest work of a farmer. Forced by the Nationalist Army to leave behind his family, he witnesses the horrors and privations of the Civil War, only to return years later to face a string of hardships brought on by the ravages of the Cultural Revolution.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Wow!
- By Phillip King on 05-30-18
-
A Tale for the Time Being
- By: Ruth Ozeki
- Narrated by: Ruth Ozeki
- Length: 14 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,848
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,687
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,679
In Tokyo, 16-year-old Nao has decided there's only one escape from her aching loneliness and her classmates' bullying. But before she ends it all, Nao first plans to document the life of her great grandmother, a Buddhist nun who's lived more than a century. A diary is Nao's only solace - and will touch lives in ways she can scarcely imagine. Across the Pacific, we meet Ruth, a novelist living on a remote island who discovers a collection of artifacts washed ashore in a Hello Kitty lunchbox - possibly debris from the devastating 2011 tsunami.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Engaging story beautifully read
- By Karen on 01-30-14
-
When We Were Orphans
- By: Kazuo Ishiguro
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 536
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 380
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 377
Christopher Banks, an English boy born in early-20th-century Shanghai, is orphaned at age nine when both his mother and father disappear under suspicious circumstances. He grows up to become a renowned detective, and more than 20 years later, returns to Shanghai to solve the mystery of the disappearances.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Just short of 5 stars
- By Everett Leiter on 05-26-06
-
The Visitant
- A Venetian Ghost Story
- By: Megan Chance
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 10 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 134
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 119
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 119
After she nearly ruins her family with a terrible misstep, Elena Spira is sent to Venice to escape disgrace and to atone by caring for the ailing Samuel Farber. But the crumbling and decaying Ca' Basilio palazzo, where Samuel is ensconced, holds tragic secrets, and little does Elena know how profoundly they will impact her.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great love story!
- By Mary Sensing on 09-22-16
-
The Unremembered Girl
- By: Eliza Maxwell
- Narrated by: Will Damron
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,186
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,041
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 1,036
In the deep woods of East Texas, Henry supports his family by selling bootleg liquor. It's all he can do to keep his compassionate but ailing mother and his stepfather - a fanatical grassroots minister with a bruising rhetoric - from ruin. But they have no idea they've become the obsession of the girl in the woods. Andoned and nearly feral, Eve has been watching them, seduced by the notion of family - something she's known only in the most brutal sense. Soon she can't resist the temptation to get close.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Meh
- By Simpsons on 11-14-17
-
The Red Hill
- Thomas Berrington, Volume 1
- By: David Penny
- Narrated by: Ian Russell
- Length: 11 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 70
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 59
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 60
In 1482 the Englishman Thomas Berrington is living in the last remnants of Moorish Spain. A physician, he is an unwilling friend to the most powerful man in the kingdom. When bodies start to turn up, each showing the marks of a savage attack, Thomas is asked to investigate.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Not my cup of tea!
- By Dany on 11-20-17
-
Measuring the World
- A Novel
- By: Daniel Kehlmann
- Narrated by: Rider Strong
- Length: 7 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 74
-
Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 46
-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 46
Toward the end of the 18th century, two young Germans set out to measure the world. One of them, the Prussian aristocrat Alexander von Humboldt, negotiates savannas and jungle, travels down the Orinoco River, tastes poisons, climbs the highest mountain known to man, counts head lice, and explores every hole in the ground. The other, the barely socialized mathematician and astronomer Carl Friedrich Gauss, does not even need to leave his home in Göttingen to prove that space is curved.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Extremely disappointing - please avoid
- By Henrik on 04-24-07
-
If Angels Fall
- By: Rick Mofina
- Narrated by: Christian Rummel
- Length: 13 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 251
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 214
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 213
Tom Reed is a crime reporter with The San Francisco Star whose superb journalistic skills earned him a Pulitzer nomination. But years later Reed's life is coming apart. His editor wants him fired. His wife has left him to wrestle with his demons. Alone, Reed is tormented by the fear he may have caused the suicide of an innocent man suspected of murdering a two-year-old girl.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Good book but horrible topic
- By J. Giuliani on 08-30-17
-
The Woman on the Orient Express
- By: Lindsay Jayne Ashford
- Narrated by: Justine Eyre
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,993
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,757
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,756
Hoping to make a clean break from a fractured marriage, Agatha Christie boards the Orient Express in disguise. But unlike her famous detective Hercule Poirot, she can't neatly unravel the mysteries she encounters on this fateful journey. Her cabinmate Katharine Keeling's first marriage ended in tragedy, propelling her toward a second relationship mired in deceit. Nancy Nelson - newly married but carrying another man's child - is desperate to conceal the pregnancy and teeters on the brink of utter despair.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Very enjoyable "woman on transportation" book
- By Ruth on 02-20-17
-
Henry and Cato
- By: Iris Murdoch
- Narrated by: Jonathan Cowley
- Length: 14 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 25
-
Performance3 out of 5 stars 24
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 23
When old friends Henry and Cato reunite after years apart, they quickly become embroiled in the drama of each other’s lives. Henry, who has just returned to England as the sole heir to his recently deceased brother’s estate, quickly begins to uncover secrets buried long ago. Meanwhile, Cato, a Catholic priest, has fallen in love with the criminal Beautiful Joe, and struggles to reform him despite the thief’s continual efforts to rob him.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Awful
- By Sandra K. Parkins on 07-14-17
-
The Forgotten Seamstress
- By: Liz Trenow
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 210
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 189
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 184
A shy girl with no family, Maria knows she's lucky to have landed in the sewing room of the royal household. Before World War I casts its shadow, she catches the eye of the Prince of Wales, a glamorous and intense gentleman. But her life takes a far darker turn, and soon all she has left is a fantastical story about her time at Buckingham Palace. Decades later, Caroline Meadows discovers a beautiful quilt in her mother's attic.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
I enjoyed listening to this book
- By SusanKC on 03-26-15
-
Bed, Breakfast, and Bones
- A Ravenwood Cove Cozy Mystery
- By: Carolyn Dean
- Narrated by: Gail Hedrick
- Length: 5 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 485
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 422
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 416
Amanda Graham inherited a rundown bed and breakfast, a starving cat, and some dead guy who's buried in her garden! What should've been a simple remodeling project and a new business in a small Oregon beach town winds up with her uncle named as the number-one murder suspect, a slew of odd neighbors and problematic townspeople, and Amanda wanting to just sit down and eat her weight in chocolate pie.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Cute First Mystery But Reader Was Poor
- By Valerie L on 01-12-17
-
The Joy Luck Club
- By: Amy Tan
- Narrated by: Gwendoline Yeo
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,057
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 895
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 894
Four Chinese women, drawn together by the shadow of their past, meet in San Francisco to play mah jong, invest in stocks, eat dim sum, and to "say" stories to each other. Nearly 40 years later, one of the women has died, and her daughter arrives to take her place. However, the daughter never expected to learn of her mother's secret lifelong wish - and the tragic way in which it has come true. The revelation creates among the women an urgent need to remember the past.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Joy Luck - abridged
- By Leslie Teicholz on 03-16-04
-
Irreparable Harm
- By: Melissa F. Miller
- Narrated by: Karen Commins
- Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 307
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 274
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 274
There's a smartphone app capable of crashing a commercial jet. And it's for sale to the highest bidder.... Attorney Sasha McCandless is closing in on the prize: After eight years of long hours, she's about to make partner at a prestigious law firm. All she has to do is keep her head down and her billable hours up. Then a plane operated by her client slams into the side of a mountain, killing everyone aboard. She gears up for the inevitable civil lawsuits. But, as Sasha digs into the case, she learns the crash was no accident.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Not as good as the Aroostine Higgins series
- By Wayne on 11-07-15
-
The Dressmaker of Khair Khana
- Five Sisters, One Remarkable Family, and the Woman Who Risked Everything to Keep Them Safe
- By: Gayle Tzemach Lemmon
- Narrated by: Sarah Zimmerman
- Length: 6 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 415
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 344
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 348
The life Kamila Sidiqi had known changed overnight when the Taliban seized control of the city of Kabul. After receiving a teaching degree during the civil war - a rare achievement for any Afghan woman - Kamila was subsequently banned from school and confined to her home. When her father and brother were forced to flee the city, Kamila became the sole breadwinner for her five siblings. Armed only with grit and determination, she picked up a needle and thread and created a thriving business of her own.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Excellent Listen
- By Susan on 09-20-12
-
The Water Is Wide
- By: Pat Conroy
- Narrated by: Dan John Miller
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 900
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 789
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 789
The island is nearly deserted, haunting, beautiful. Across a slip of ocean lies South Carolina. But for the handful of families on Yamacraw island, America is a world away. For years the people here lived proudly from the sea, but now its waters are not safe. Waste from industry threatens their very existence – unless, somehow, they can learn a new life. But they will learn nothing without someone to teach them, and their school has no teacher.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Conroy's early autobiography
- By SarahHouston on 10-22-10
-
Doomsday Book
- By: Connie Willis
- Narrated by: Jenny Sterlin
- Length: 26 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 4,707
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 3,834
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 3,857
For Oxford student Kivrin, traveling back to the 14th century is more than the culmination of her studies - it's the chance for a wonderful adventure. For Dunworthy, her mentor, it is cause for intense worry about the thousands of things that could go wrong.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Timely, beautiful, terrible and haunting
- By mudcelt on 11-02-09
-
The Measure of a Man
- A Spiritual Autobiography
- By: Sidney Poitier
- Narrated by: Sidney Poitier
- Length: 8 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 648
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 313
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 311
In this luminous memoir, a true American icon looks back on his celebrated life and career. His body of work is arguably the most morally significant in cinematic history, and the power and influence of that work are indicative of the character of the man behind the many storied roles. Sidney Poitier here explores these elements of character and personal values to take his own measure: as a man, as a husband and a father, and as an actor.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
bravo!!!
- By Gail Kelleher on 02-03-07
Publisher's Summary
Winner of the 2012 Nobel Prize in literature
The farmers of Paradise County have been leading a hardscrabble life unchanged for generations. The Communist government has encouraged them to plant garlic, but selling the crop is not as simple as they believed. Warehouses fill up, taxes skyrocket, and government officials maltreat even those who have traveled for days to sell their harvest. A surplus on the garlic market ensues, and the farmers must watch in horror as their crops wither and rot in the fields. Families are destroyed by the random imprisonment of young and old for supposed crimes against the state.The prisoners languish in horrifying conditions in their cells, with only their strength of character and thoughts of their loved ones to save them from madness. Meanwhile, a blind minstrel incites the masses to take the law into their own hands, and a riot of apocalyptic proportions follows with savage and unforgettable consequences.
The Garlic Ballads is a powerful vision of life under the heel of an inflexible and uncaring government. It is also a delicate story of love between man and woman, father and child, friend and friend - and the struggle to maintain that love despite overwhelming obstacles.
More from the same
What members say
Average Customer Ratings
Overall
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
5 Stars4
-
4 Stars6
-
3 Stars3
-
2 Stars6
-
1 Stars3
Performance
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
5 Stars4
-
4 Stars6
-
3 Stars0
-
2 Stars6
-
1 Stars2
Story
-
3.5 out of 5 stars
-
5 Stars4
-
4 Stars6
-
3 Stars5
-
2 Stars2
-
1 Stars2